US border agents shouldn’t have the courts’ permission to shoot people in Mexico | Guinevere E. Moore | Comment is free | The Guardian
▻http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/28/us-border-agents-permission-shoot-people-mexico
On 7 June, 2010, a US border patrol agent shot and killed a 15-year-old Mexican boy, Sergio Hernandez, who was standing on the Mexican side of the border. The border patrol agent who drew his firearm and shot Hernandez twice, including a fatal shot to the head, alleged that the boy had been throwing rocks.
After three days on administrative leave and an administrative review of his actions, the agent returned to his duties. No criminal charges were filed, and the United States has refused to extradite the agent to stand trial for murder in Mexico.
[...]
Hernandez’s shooting is not an isolated incident: according to the Washington Times, there have been 43 cases since 2010 involving the use of deadly force by agents, resulting in 10 deaths along the border.
The reason that we have separation of powers is to prevent these types of abuses by one branch of government by holding it accountable to the other branches. Apparently, the courts are now willing to abdicate this responsibility when the individual is a foreign national standing on his home soil – even where that individual is a child. People like Hernandez and my clients shouldn’t have to crawl across the border in order to receive #justice.
